Republican Bruce Cozart, a former member of the Lake Hamilton school board, tells the Sentinel-Record he's running for the seat that will be vacated after Democratic incumbent Rick Saunders steps down.

Saunders could not seek re-election this year because of term limits. In the general election on Nov. 2, Republican Keith Crass defeated his Democratic rival, Garland County Judge Larry Williams, even though Crass had died on Oct. 27.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued an opinion allowing Saunders to remain in the office until 2012, but Saunders says he will leave after his term ends on Jan. 1.

The local Republican and Democratic parties haven't decided if they will hold primaries or caucuses to choose their new nominees.

Around 2:40 Tuesday morning, the sheriff's office received a call of a shooting at 265 Ashbrook Lane.

Deputies found 27-year-old Matthew Hartman, sitting in the front yard, with a gunshot wound to his left leg.

Deputies say Hartman had shown up at the address, appeared to be under the influence of narcotics and was acting irrational. They say he began attacking and threatening a 48-year-old female for unknown reasons.

Investigators say the husband of the female then got a shot gun and shot Hartman in the left leg with bird-shot, causing minor injuries.

Hartman was transported to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. His condition is unknown.

The case is still under investigation and, at this time, there is no motive for the attack. No arrests have been made and the case will be turned over to the prosecutor for review.

When broken down by metropolitan areas, five Arkansas cities made the top ten. Pine Bluff is number two, the Memphis area three, Hot Springs is six, Little Rock moves up to number nine, and Texarkana is ten.

"If you look at violent crime in 2008 to 2009, violent crime is down nine percent. This book is not accurate," says Lt. Terry Hastings with Little Rock Police.

Even though the CQ Press uses FBI data, the FBI disputes the rankings saying it gives an incomplete analysis and creates misleading perceptions of a community.

"As far as we know this is the best only available data set at the national level of crime statistics across cities and we acknowledge there may be flaws in the data, but the numbers are what they are," says Ben Krasney, spokesperson for CQ Press.

Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis says the controlled burns and other fuel mitigation efforts will take place on Whippoorwill Street, which he says is an overgrown access behind the city's main thoroughfare.

Fire officials say years of debris, foundation remains, trash, leaves and undergrowth make it impossible to respond or get water to the hillside behind the block.

Inmates from the Ouachita Correctional Center began working this week to clear debris and vegetation. Undergrowth will be scraped into burnable piles.

Officials say those piles and a mile-long strip of building between the buildings and a wooded area will be burned next year.